Harpist and singer Julia Cunningham has been a member of my Hip Harp Academy for several years now. For the past couple years, she’s been sharing these beautiful videos she creates for her YouTube channel where she takes tracks from her previously-recorded albums and gives them new life by building video stories with them.
It’s been beautiful to watch her develop these. The Academy community loves being the first to see them, and her videos have inspired many other members to explore creating videos with their own music.
To my surprise, I saw a post from her recently about a part of her life I knew nothing about: that Julia is in end-stage renal failure and is in search of a kidney donor. I want to share her post and ask you to share it as well. Here is her message:
Hello Friends,
It’s taken me eleven years to muster up the courage to share this deeply personal news with you. Some of you know, but most of you don’t that I’m in end-stage kidney failure.
I’ve been on dialysis (4 x per day) for years and while I’m very grateful for the daily dialysis sessions that are helping to keep me alive, my doctors have recommended a kidney transplant from a living donor as the best medical treatment.
Several amazing angel friends have already stepped forward but so far, we haven’t found a suitable donor. I’m getting the word out in case you or someone you know might consider coming forward as a potential donor.
To learn more about living donation, you can contact the donor nurse coordinator at St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver, Canada: (+1-604 806 9027 / +1-877-922-9822; DonorNurse@providencehealth.bc.ca) or find more information on the BC Transplant website (www.transplant.bc.ca). All information is private and confidential and any potential donor can make the choice to back away from the process at any point.
I’ve lived a life beyond my wildest dreams and am so grateful to have so many incredible people in my life! I truly believe that whatever is meant to be will be.
Onwards and upwards, my friends!
Thank you for reading.
With so much love and gratitude,
xoxo
Julia
PS: Several friends have asked me what my blood type is. I’m O-negative, which means I can receive a kidney from anyone with O-negative or O+ positive blood. Other blood types can donate a kidney through a chain of people called a “paired exchange” program, by which I would also receive a kidney of my blood type. Pretty amazing!
I want to share this request of hers to help her get her message to more people. So please share it and enjoy the beauty of the music she’s created in:
- Julia’s beautiful music videos at SoulHarp on YouTube. [ https://www.youtube.com/@soulharp ]
- Julia’s Website & audio downloads [ https://soulharp.com/music/ ]
- Follow Julia on Facebook [ https://www.facebook.com/SoulHarpJulia/ ]
PROJECTS & PERFORMANCES:
FOR HARPISTS:
- Join Hip Harp Academy
- Harp Time Live (FREE Weekly Playalong)
- FREE Resources
Dear Hip Harp Academy Community,
First, thank you for bringing further attention to Julia Cunningham’s health and music career.
I thought I’d share the last newsletter I did on my friend, Julia. It includes the biography I wrote for her. Within it–it captures the essence of her beautiful being.
Below it I’ve included the online presentation of her quote and two poems – which includes visuals. It is titled: “Light Source.”
I too have included articles where we learn more about her, her music, and her late father, Dr. Joseph Patrick Cunningham, whom I’ve dedicated 2025 to.
I thank you for allowing me the space and for reading!
God bless you all!
As always, love is the way,
Miles Patrick Yohnke
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Subject: Saskatchewan Sunset – A New Music Video from Multi-Award-Winning Julia Cunningham
Release Date: Oct. 25, 2025
“The Lord said: ‘let there be wheat’ and Saskatchewan was born.”
– Stephen Leacock
“There was this mountain village in Russia where my music was getting in on some German radio station. I remember this because music used to get up to Saskatchewan from Texas. Late at night after the local station closed down.”
– Joni Mitchell
International Artist Day is celebrated annually on October 25. This day honours the contributions of artists from all disciplines and serves as a reminder of the importance of creativity in society. The date coincides with the birthday of the renowned artist Pablo Picasso, making it an opportunity to recognize and appreciate the work of artists worldwide.
It is with great pleasure to announce on this ‘International Artist Day’ a new music video for the original song ‘Saskatchewan Sunset’ by multi-award-winning artist Julia Cunningham. Julia Cunningham also made the music video herself.
Please click on the link to watch (and listen).
Saskatchewan Sunset – by Julia Cunningham & Eddie Towns Jr.:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4sr34tBzMc
Julia Cunningham Biography
Julia Cunningham–the Saskatoon born and raised career has blossomed to see her play in more than twenty nations, appearing on some of the most famous stages in the world: Carnegie Hall, the Royal Albert Hall, St. Petersburg’s Mariinsky Theatre; the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall in Moscow, and even – in front of Pope John Paul II – at the Vatican.
Julia Cunningham has a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Victoria, a Master of Music degree from Yale University, and a Performance Diploma from the National Conservatory of Nice in France. She has lived in Italy, France, Los Angeles, and she speaks three languages fluently – English, French and Italian.
The meaning of ‘biography’ is an account of someone’s life written by someone else. And with that I really want to capture who Julia Cunningham is as a human being. The reason Julia Cunningham speaks three languages fluently – English, French and Italian is she cares and loves all people.
Julia Cunningham exudes the subtlety of the worldly wise,
The curiousness of a child,
The sensitivity of an artist.
She has the understanding of a philosopher,
The acceptance of a saint,
The tolerance of a scholar,
The fortitude of a hero.
Her beauty could attract more ass than any toilet seat.
Julia Cunningham is Bo Derek, Mother Teresa, Hildegard von Bingen & Kathryn Bigelow all-in-one.
She is this beacon of light. And because she is we feel it in her compositions. We feel and hear it in her vocals. She as aligned herself with our Creator and because she has it’s all in her music and in her videos. It’s real, because Julia Cunningham is real–she is authentic!
At the age of fifty, Julia Cunningham self-taught herself how to make music videos. She has blessed the world with an abundance of them. All are filled with hope and light.
Julia Cunningham faced a horrific loss as a teenager. Her father succumbed to cancer. Her father often drove her six hours round trip for her harp lessons when she first took it up at age fourteen. And five years later he was physically gone.
There is a discipline required to master an instrument at this level. A discipline to compose music at this level. A discipline to be a music video storyteller at this level. Julia Cunningham has sacrificed so much to reach this level of the arts, this level of music and video, and too, as a human being. So much discipline and training are required each and every day, year after year, decade after decade.
On her travels around the world Julia Cunningham has appeared on ‘Top of the Pops,’ and with Chrissie Hynde on ‘Later… with Jools Holland’ in the UK, and on U.S. TV on ‘Late Night with Conan O’Brien.’ She performed with the legendary Luciano Pavarotti many times, including at two of his ‘Pavarotti & Friends’ benefit concerts in Modena, Italy, and played at Oprah Winfrey’s ‘Legends’ gala at her home in Montecito, California. Some of the countless private events the multi-award-winning Julia Cunningham has appeared at include performing for Albert II, Prince of Monaco, for King Charles III, and at the Cannes Film Festival. Julia Cunningham’s orchestral collaborations include the Los Angeles Symphony, the Vancouver and Victoria Symphony Orchestras; Orchestra Sinfonica Italiana, the Cannes Philharmonic, Opera de Nice, the Chinese Broadcasting Orchestra, and the Kuala Lumpur Philharmonic.
She has toured with Grammy-winning and Rock N’ Roll Hall of Fame artist Solomon Burke, recorded with music icon Djivan Gasparyan, just to name a few.
Julia Cunningham’s instrumental music combines the harmonic resources of her formal classical training; the open approach of a Celtic harpist; and her years of touring with a wide range of influences from various cultures. As a result, her music spans many genres but remains distinctly her own.
Her catalog of music has been played on various radio programs around the globe and in her home country of Canada, including nationally on CBC Music and ‘Saturday Night Jazz.’
But this doesn’t define her–her accolades. What defines her is her empathy, her compassion that she shows all people.
This poem captures Julia Cunningham’s true essence:
LIGHT SOURCE
Transmission.
Her infinite light,
Is transmitted through.
This is where,
The day contains,
The darkest of the light.
It is visible to no human’s eyes,
Yet we are drawn towards her.
Gathered together,
We are sheltered and protected by her light.
Guarded, she is our safe haven,
She is the keeper of our consciousness.
There is a gentle glow,
That radiates from her heart.
The beam channels,
And draws in all energy,
As it passes through,
Through to our complete being.
Completely attuned,
An angelic chorus joins in.
Such a glorious sound,
With all intensity of life.
She is a funnel,
Of glorious white light,
In its purest energy form.
And it is known,
That she is the word of God,
For she is the spirit of truth.
As she flows,
She creates such a power,
Such an intensity,
But still yields a tremendous peace.
It becomes gentle and peaceful as she blankets the earth,
With all of her wisdom, calm and immense protection,
And those in the rays of her infinite light,
Will bask in its warmth eternal.
This Light, a divine light, comes from the Creator.
Julia Cunningham resides in Victoria, B.C. Canada.
Written by Miles Patrick Yohnke © 2025
For more on Julia Cunningham, please click here: https://soulharp.com/
Please feel free to share this with your friends and colleagues and to post it on any social media that you use. Thank you for caring, sharing, and reading.
As always, love is the way,
Miles Patrick Yohnke
Light Source:
https://salmonstudio.wixsite.com/yohnke/post/light-source
Stages of Life:
https://salmonstudio.wixsite.com/yohnke/post/stages-of-life
D.U.N.C.A.N.3.5.:
https://salmonstudio.wixsite.com/yohnke/post/d-u-n-c-a-n-3-5
Mission: Possible: Our Perspective:
https://salmonstudio.wixsite.com/yohnke/post/mission-possible-1
The Light of Margaret Anne Dempsey:
https://salmonstudio.wixsite.com/yohnke/post/margaret-anne-dempsey